Colorado

We arrived at the Greyhound station in Glenwood Springs at 7pm last Monday (after being delayed for 4 hours but that's another story!) It turned out to be a small petrol station just outside the town which also served as the bus station when the Greyhound came into town! The lady we were renting our apartment from had sent us lots of concerned emails (from her holiday in Estonia!) as she was worried about how we would get there due to us not having a car. She gave us the phone number of the local pastor's wife who she said would be very happy to come and pick us up! There was a free bus service around town but, due to our late arrival, it had stopped running so we took the pastor's wife up on her offer and she cheerfully came and collected us! Glenwood Springs is just like an Alpine village - very charming and surrounded by beautiful mountains in every direction. On the photos you can see the view from the front of our apartment and CK standing on the bridge over Roaring Fork river which we walked over most days to get the free bus into town. What you can't see on the photo is her new trainers that she bought while here (her third pair!) so here is a close up view of them!! I am on my second pair and will be needing a third pair myself soon (especially if it rains!) We did a few hikes in the nearby area, visiting the burial site of the famous gambler and gunslinger Doc Holliday on one of them! Nobody was sure of the exact site of his grave but people had left cigars, little bottles of Jack Daniels and false moustaches by the memorial stone anyway! The highlight of our visit to Colorado was a trip to Aspen which was only an hour and a half trip on the bus. The 'beautiful people' who flock there in the ski season were nowhere to be found but what we DID find was a bit of drama in the town centre. A small section of the town had been taped off and the reason for this was that a black bear had wandered into town around 5am and climbed up a tree on one of the streets! As the town came to life in the morning he was too fearful to climb down again so just stayed up there. He was still there when we left later in the afternoon and I read on the news the next day that he hadn't climbed down again until midnight! Poor bear! Although we were very excited to see him at close quarters after only being able to view the grizzlies at a distance in Alaska! This next section of our Colorado blog is dedicated to CK's Mum, Mary Buckley (a John Denver fan!) - as when we went for a walk down to the river we came across a memorial park to the man himself! It was beautifully done with many of his songs carved out on the rocks and as you can see CK could not help but break into song when she saw 'Sunshine on my Shoulders'! 'Rocky Mountain High' was also there in its entirety so feel free to sing along Mary! We took a gondola ride up to the top of one of the mountains and were blown away by the absolutely awesome views from the top! We sat there at the top of the mountain and tried to take it all in. I don't think I have enough adjectives to describe it really - majestic, magnificent would be a couple - it totally took your breath away! We will be sad to leave Colorado as we have had a lovely cosy little apartment (which we don't get all that often!), great outside space (lawn and patio with lovely mountain views!) and such lovely hosts who have been so very kind to us. But move on we must - tomorrow morning in fact at 4am(!) - and take the now infamous Greyhound bus on to Lincoln, Nebraska for a couple of nights. It's an 11 hour bus trip so we have packed up a bag full of sandwiches and are getting ready for an early night in preparation for the day ahead - wish us luck - with the Greyhound bus we will probably need it!